Working Anger (Opinion)

There are certain things that I don’t talk about often: politics, religion, money… You know, the kind of thing that you never talk about in polite conversation. It’s not that I don’t have strong opinions or am not paying attention to what’s going on. I have never had a lot of confidence in my ability to speak on such topics.

That being said, I feel that I can no longer stay quiet. Something is very wrong in this country and I can’t stand to watch it continue.

I have always been very open about where I stand politically. I am very liberal. I come from a working class family.

Which means, I find what’s happening with the current economy absolutely abhorrent. More importantly, I find what’s happening in Congress currently reprehensible. While we could all play the blame game until the cows come home, it’s not going to change that it feels as though we are at the beginning of a class war. We now live in an America where the rich get richer. The rich get the larger tax breaks and pay a lot less money than those of us who work.

There is something very wrong here.

Why is it that the rich are only paying about 15% (if they actually pay taxes) but those of us who make less then $1 million are paying close to 30%. There’s an easy answer to this. Oh, and in 2009 over 1400 of the super-rich Americans didn’t pay any tax whatsoever. It goes back to the Bush the second stimulus package.

What most people don’t realize that us worker bees are that while the corporations get the payroll taxes, the workers are still having the same percentage take out of their check.

And we know who is fighting to keep this inequality. We know who won’t give anything while they take away the social safety net of this country. That’s right. I’m talking about the Tea Party… or what I would like to think of as the old, rich, white boy society.

They have acted like spoiled 2-year olds, throwing a temper tantrum every time someone wants to take away their toy. They would risk destroying this country to protect their precious hoard. And that should be unacceptable to everybody.

It’s unacceptable to me.

As we continue into the 2012 election, I feel as hopeless as I did back in 2004. While I love Obama’s idealism, he seems to be compromising his beliefs to try and be bipartisan. I’m not comfortable voting for someone who can’t stand for their ideals. On the flip side, all the GOP front runners are Tea Party, and the leader of that pack I feel is the biggest hypocrite of the bunch. Her husband tries to reform gay people through religion. She gets a home loan through Fannie Mae, but she wants to dismantle it. Fannie Mae is there to help those of us who would like our own little bit of the American Dream. She will go out and harshly criticize others, but the second someone else has the audacity to do it to her she says it’s unacceptable. She is quoted as saying we are heading into the apocalypse… This is what we might have to look forward to. There isn’t a moderate Republican in the GOP nominee bunch.

2 Responses to "Working Anger (Opinion)"

About the 1400 or so “super-rich” who didn’t pay any taxes, it’s not quite as simple as you seem to imply. It is possible that their income was derived from state and municipal bonds, which are exempt from federal income tax. It’s possible that their income was derived from foreign investments, taxed in the source jurisdiction, and thus eligible for foreign tax credits that offset federal tax. I concede the point that several of them may be avoiding taxes for reasons or in ways that are not appropriate, but some could be doing it entirely legitimately.

You have it backwards on the payroll taxes. At the beginning of this year, the Social Security tax for employees was reduced by 2%, resulting in the total payroll tax for employees dropping to 5.65% of wages on the portion to which the Social Security applies. The employer portion of total payroll taxes has remained unchanged, at a combined 7.65%. Self-employment taxes were similarly reduced from 15.3% to 13.3%.

From the perspective of Ayn Rand’s Objectivist disciples (read: Tea Party members), it is entirely appropriate that Madame Congresswoman B. receive benefits from Fannie Mae while working to dismantle it. Objectivists espouse the doctrine of rational self-interest – do everything you can to get ahead. They view taxation as theft, while saying that you should take advantage of any benefits the government makes available to you. Ayn Rand herself argued against the existence of Social Security, but happily collected Social Security benefits. Against that backdrop, is it any surprise that those jokers take the positions they do? And, for the record, I think that position is total and utter horseshit. Objectivism is a lie. If you’re going to take, you should give too.

I, too, am disappointed at Obama’s seeming lack of a spine. I, for one, think that he should have declared the national debt limit null and void, based on the 14th Amendment, rather than cave to the Repugnicans’ demands. He should be going toe-to-toe against them, instead of attempting to be conciliatory. When their brinksmanship threatens to destroy the country, let them be the ones to blink; then blame it on them.

I might have it wrong. I was going off of information that i had read somewhere else. So, it wouldn’t be just me wrong on that.

It doesn’t matter why they didn’t pay doesn’t change the fact that they did not pay.

I agree. At the same time, I understand that he said when he was elected that he would be the one to cross the aisle. Unfortunately, it almost seems like he sold his soul to do so. Unfortunately, there isn’t much we can do in 2012 is vote for Obama because the GOP is a hot mess. And I still think Bachmann is still a hypocrite for doing so.